The tiny, grey-brown house mouse is one of our most successful mammals. It thrives around buildings but is less likely to be found in our houses these days due to better construction.

The common whelk is the largest sea snail found in UK seas, though you're more likely to find the dry balls of empty whelk egg capsules washed up in strandlines.

The common spotted-orchid is the easiest of all our orchids to see: sometimes, so many flowers appear together that they create a pale pink carpet in our woodlands, old quarries, dunes and marshes…